The hidden ‘GANDU’

I know most of you would have clicked this inveigled by ‘G’ word and wondering what’s wrong with this female! Well there is something surely wrong ...not with me but with us and it is this wrong that doesn’t allow us to experience liberation in its true spirit. Well those who are bored by the idea are free to leave the note/blog here itself and those who stay shall be ready for understanding a movie that rattles not just the brain but the inner self.
I am talking about a movie not considered worth releasing in the India despite winning several accolades globally as an Indian entry. I am talking of a movie despite being black and white shows a shade of life which many of us must be facing but fail to recognise. I am talking of a movie whose title itself can fuel controversy in a nation like India. I am talking of a movie which most of us face in our daily lives but would fail to understand forget associating with. I am talking of Gandu- The Loser a movie directed by Q. Yes it’s just Q (question) with no A (answer). The movie is something that Bollywood can never offer well to put it straight it would never be allowed to offer one. Reality is inversely proportion to popularity and the biggies are mugged it up without a flaw. But, still there are a few who break the norms of convention and bring what is often tagged as ‘experimental cinema’. But sadly the experiment fizzles out as soon as it enters a global contest. Gandu as a movie promises to take Indian cinema to not just next level but levels much higher than that. It’s a movie that hits you right on your face and still leaves you wondering what was it! Honestly speaking this movie needs several readings and re-readings before one can associate with it. Well most of us cannot even associated with it as it talks of real people, desperate people, poor people living lives completely within themselves and dreaming of coming out of the ghetto. But, surely this is one that would not leave your mind so easily.
Gandu, the title character, represents the subculture that consists of people who live in world surrounded by insecurities and hatred, poverty and illusion. His life like ours is routinised but his routine activities are different: breakfast with mother, wait for his mother and her boyfriend to start their lust driven business so that he can steal just half the amount daily from her boyfriend's wallet and use the income to gamble daily, visit Internet cafe and watch other engage in web chat, return home to lather his frustration, rinse and repeat. But, Gandu as per his name is unable to do anything apart from seething. The only respite for him is his rap- the rapid words with which he dreams of making it big someday and ‘make world the balloon and himself the Prick’. But despite being highly talented there is no one in his society who reckons it.
Things begin to change when he befriends a Bruce Lee worshipping rickshaw puller, whom he calls rickshaw walla. After meeting him he wins the lottery ticket starts there projectile journey from the world of reality to world of delusions. With Gandu getting introduced to smack the story unravels the battle between hallucinations and reality. (For what it unravels you have to see the movie. For its reflection on our lives read below)
Though the film talks of a guy whose lifestyle doesn’t resembles ours’ but it clearly shows a Gandu that’s hidden within us. That tries to escape the reality and happily live in a world which appears much more sombre. It talks of a man who cannot differentiate between realities from dream. The illusion of being developed and culturally strong is so deep rooted that we fail to recognise the deep fitted flaws of the society that we live in. The film beautifully talks of world that exists within all of us and yet we fail to recognise it. I just wish the revolution in Indian cinema starts now!